The weather, depending which direction you look in

I suppose I should take the washing off the line!

Preparing for a party

It is our 10th wedding anniversary tomorrow (the first wedding - we had two), so we've invited lots of friends for cake and wine. We may need to hold a second event, as thirty people are coming tomorrow and there are at least as many again who can't make it.

On the menu, cherry pie, New York cheesecake, carrot cake, death by chocolate and apple cake.......If the weather holds we will be on the grass under shady trees. Hopefully photos to follow.

Liking the lichen

Our ornamental cherries are wearing the heavenly garb of lichen. I have just been getting shots of it in the light of tea time before the trees go all shy before bedtime.

Shadowlands

The local ranges

The Tararua mountain range runs like a crooked spine in the southern part of the North Island. Its highest peak is higher than Ben Nevis in Scotland (the highest mountain in the British Isles). In winter, the range is covered in snow. Coneysthorpe nestles in the foothills. Yesterday we were driving home from Levin and I took the above photo out of the car window.

Wood delivery

Our wonderful neighbours delivered a truck load of wood to us yesterday. I love the fact that some of the logs still have the cones attached to them. They are far too nice to burn!
This morning Cumin joined me at the woodpile, no doubt hoping for a creature with whiskers to run out ready to be chased. Sadly, she was of no use and got side tracked by a fantail in the plum tree. Having done nothing at all she is now sleeping on our bed. As my grandpa used to say, "It's a grand life, if you don't weaken!"

Hydrangea follies

It seemed a shame for these massive hydrangea heads not to get a "showing". The heads are so heavy they are pulling the bush over. So time for them to have a bit of international exposure! It is around 25 degrees outside, (hence the grass lawn that looks more like hay), and I suppose I should have waited until later to take the photos, but I was enjoying myself, and these are the results.

Paddock Diary 2

On Christmas Day, we went for a walk down our long cul de sac of a road, and I heard, then saw, a squadron of parrots flying overhead. Gave me quite a fright, as they were really quite noisy.

It turns out that the Eastern Rosella, an Australian parrot, was introduced to NZ in the 1900s. It seems we have them in the trees near us, as this little fella was perched in the paddock around 10 minutes ago. It isn't a great photo because I had to grab my camera and put it on bazillion zoom quickly.

No wonder Her Gingership was sitting near the gate after tea......

The nesting game

As we have been tidying up the garden and pruning, we have found a lot of abandoned nests from this year's broods. One, a thrush's nest fell out of a tree as I was picking plums, the other is the Welcome Swallow who was nesting in the eaves outside our bedroom window. Today I tackled washing down the paintwork, because wonderful as they are, they make a terrible mess, and I couldn't bear to look at it any more. The nest on the right is Madam Swallow. She made quite a dandy bed for herself!

Sunday Bumble

The fuchsia's are still blossoming and it would appear to be a Sunday morning stop for the local bumble bee population. My "quiet" breakfast on the balcony was punctuated by bumble bee hum from our huge rambling fuchsia bush near the verandah steps. They are somewhat camera shy, but I finally caught this one catching his breath for a few seconds.

Hobbit burgers

We are having a picnic at Coneysthorpe for Chinese New Year. The people who are visiting are Chinese and Indian so he picnic is not likely to be cucumber sandwiches.....thank goodness.

Here are my Hobbit Burgers to graze on when they arrive, complete with chilli and tomato dip.